


Help Me, Rhonda

by literati42



Series: Help Me Rhonda [1]
Category: The Good Cop (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, chosen family, friendship fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-07 03:44:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16400717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literati42/pseuds/literati42
Summary: Tag for s1ep1Burl Loomis stares at the case board with Ltn. TJ Caruso's face under the list of suspects and remembers the day he became partners with the young detective.





	Help Me, Rhonda

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone who's been leaving such kind comments on my stories! This fandom has been great, and I am excited to write more for you all and see what you all write!  
> Follow me on twitter for more fun @themythofpsyche

Burl Loomis stared at the board of suspects. Currently, it had two pictures. One, the ex-cop current felon he once looked up to and the other, his partner and son of said former cop. He let out a long breath, “Help me, Rhonda.”  
_-_-_  
Burl remembered the day well. He was not often called into see the Captain, mostly she pretended he did not exist. He walked toward her office, passed a young cop. Tony Caruso’s son. He glanced at him slightly, and then entered her office.  
“Captain,” he said.  
“Loomis. Let me get right to it. You know I don’t like wasting time.” She sat forward, hands folded as she studied him. “You saw Officer Caruso out there?”  
“I did,” Burl said.  
“Well, he just made detective. He’s going to need a partner, and for the first time in my history with this job, I’m getting petitions right and left…to not work with him.” She let out a breath. “Half the department seems to think he’s a time bomb of corruption, and the other half have met him and know he’s a…” she motioned with her hands, “Stickler for the rules.” She looked up at him, “Your last partner requested a transfer, as you know. He said he was tired of carrying the full load.” She raised a hand, “I am not yelling, but we both know it’s true.” She raised an eyebrow, “The way I see it. I have two detectives that no one wants to work with, and I think, let’s solve both problems. Maybe you can soften his edges, and maybe he can get you to stay awake on the job. Now, I am not going to make either one of you say yes, but…it could be mutually beneficial.”  
Burl nodded slowly, “Let me think about it.” He glanced at his watch, “It’s 6:00.” He turned and left the office, but he stopped just shy of the rookie detective. He walked over and looked at him. “Did she already talk to you?”  
The young Anthony Caruso, Jr. looked up, meeting his eyes awkwardly through thick glasses. “Yeah. Don’t worry, I get it.” He looked back down to the case file he was reading.  
“What do you get?”  
“That you don’t want to work with me. It was nice of you to say something to my face, most people don’t bother, but you don’t have to say it.”  
Burl pulled out the seat, lowering himself into it slowly. He did everything slowly. Now Caruso looked up, studying him. “So, you’ve resigned yourself to not having a partner?”  
He gave an awkward shoulder shrug. Burl was struck by how different this kid was from his father. Tony the Tiger was all charisma, his son was all awkward angles and broken eye contact. “I am sure the Captain spelled it out for you if you didn’t know already. Either people know my Dad’s reputation, or they know mine, and there are plenty of objections to either. I was thinking of requesting a police dog instead of a partner, but I’ve never been good with animals.”  
“Like Turner and Hooch,” Burl said. There it was, like a beam of light breaking out of clouds. It was still awkward, to be sure, but it was genuine. A smile that was as full of goodness as Tony, Sr’s smile had been full of mischief.  
“Yeah, like Turner and Hooch.”  
Burl studied him again with a practiced detective’s eye. “Officer Blake said you called him on arriving to his shift late. He was worried he might get a citation for it, but he never did. Does it bother you that he didn’t get in trouble?”  
“No,” he replied, “I never reported it.”  
“Why?”  
“It was an infraction,” the rookie said, “Infractions can be caught early and corrected. If an officer acknowledges they have done something wrong and works to fix it, then we are not required to make them into bigger problems. Infractions aren’t crimes.”  
“So you do acknowledge there’s a difference?”  
“Of course they’re different,” he replied, “But that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. My mother always said, if you break one rule, they all break. It’s like this. You start by saying yes to yourself in small ways. Maybe you allow yourself an unbuttoned top button, or you show up late. Then it gets easier the next time to say yes to yourself. Maybe the chain of evidence falls apart, and you fudge some paperwork, but it is okay because you know the guy did it. Then maybe the next time you keep a little money from a bust or accept payment to look the other way. Then next thing you know you’re…”  
“Tony Caruso,” Burl said. Here the younger Caruso nodded, slowly. “So, you see your father in all the cops you’re judging?”  
“No, no. It’s…it’s not about me judging them.” He let out a frustrated sigh, “It’s sort of, two-fold. It is about accountability. The citizens need to know we can be trusted, and we need to hold each other to higher standards. There are other Tony Caruso’s in the world, my father was not the only corrupt cop. Some of them are even a lot worse. Every time another cop is on the take, every time a cop gets away with a crime, every time someone innocent is hurt by a cop, it chips away at people’s ability to trust us. If we can break any rule without consequence, how do people know if we are just breaking the small infractions, or if we are one of the ones being paid off? So, if I have to call out the infractions so they know I am watching, maybe it will keep them from making that bigger step next time. Maybe they will know it won’t go unseen. I would hope there are cops here that would do the same for me, if I ever step out of line. These compromises, these breaking of rules, they ruin lives. The cop’s, the people who count on the cop, and…the cop’s family.” He was not able to keep eye contact as he said the next words, “Maybe if more cops spoke up earlier, my father wouldn’t have gotten away with so many things. Maybe if someone called him on his infractions back when they were small, I wouldn’t have to see my father during select visiting hours at the state penitentiary.” He fidgeted with his glasses, “Here I am, losing myself in meaningless what ifs.”  
“I ask myself what if all the time,” Burl said. “What if you like to eat hotcakes after they’ve cooled. Are they then just cakes?”  
There it was again, a laugh broke free of the tension in this rookie as if it had been pent up inside him the whole time.  
“I am going to retire soon,” Burl said, “I don’t run after suspects, sometimes I fall asleep on the job, and I leave exactly at 6:00 even if the paperwork isn’t done.” The young officer was staring up at him.  
“What are you saying?”  
“If you think you can handle that. You have yourself a partner.” Burl stuck out his hand, “Burl Loomis.”  
The kid stood up, shaking his hand, “Anthony Caruso, I go by TJ.”  
“What do you say, Detective?”  
_-_-_  
The Captain was both shocked and relieved when they both agreed to the partnership. Burl explained to her that he agreed because TJ said he would do most of the work, and she accepted it at that. For Burl Loomis though, while TJ not minding bearing the bulk of the load was a perk, it was not the deciding factor. It was what he understood about the rookie after that conversation that mattered more. Burl may have been tired, but he was still a good detective. He realized that TJ was not one of those cops that reported on his colleagues to get ahead of them. TJ truly believed he was helping them be better versions of themselves. Burl also saw that above all else, TJ cared about taking care of the people they were sworn to protect, even if his dogged dedication to justice made him less than popular around the bullpen. He was a good man who was good at his job, and because of that, Burl was willing to look past some of his more frustrating eccentricities.  
As time went on, they showed themselves a good team, better than the Captain suspected. TJ did most of the heavy lifting, and Burl was there with his quiet wisdom, and with his steadfast support. He was in TJ’s corner every step of the way, even if it was rarely spoken of between them.  
They cleared cases together along the way. Lots of cases. TJ began separating himself from his father’s reputation, but even if his arrest record earned grudging respect, he was never able to overcome his own reputation as a stick in the mud. Burl did not care, he was no longer interested in the politics of being well-liked at the station, and before their first two weeks of working together was even over, he had grown incredibly fond of the young detective. So, in subtle ways, Burl stood between TJ and the worst of the criticism. He said very little outright, but he gave off the message well enough for people to hear. He was not interested in anyone being cruel to his partner, and for the most part, they backed off.  
Somewhere along the way, they ended up with Ryan. He kept spending more and more time working their cases until the captain officially made him a part of their unit. His awkwardness and his inability to get along with the other officers made him a perfect match for their hodgepodge. He was also instantly, furiously loyal too.  
TJ often pointed out Burl’s flaws but never used them against him. Even that day, he woke Burl up from his nap in the police car to warn him that someone might see him and report him for it. Someone might, but TJ wouldn’t. TJ was always there, giving him endless chances to get better at his job.  
Now, Burl and Ryan stood there, by the case board, looking at TJ’s face beside that of his father. “Help me, Rhonda,” was what he said, but what he thought was, how could he possibly protect the Lieutenant this time? He knew without a shadow of a doubt TJ was innocent, but he could see no way to prove it. And since TJ was innocent, the next likely suspect was his father. Either way Burl could figure it, his partner was going to get hurt.  
_-_-_  
After proving himself and his father innocent, after nearly getting shot by the real killer, TJ walked into the bullpen the next morning to find Burl Loomis asleep at his desk. He went to wake him up, but Ryan stopped him, waving his hands vigorously. “Detective Loomis was here till 9:00.”  
“PM?” TJ asked, “He never stays past 6.”  
“He was working on clearing you and your father,” Ryan said, in a stage whisper. Burl stirred, blinking.  
“What are you two staring at?”  
TJ shook his head, walking around to take his own seat. “Looks like you won’t have to look for a new partner after all,” TJ said.  
“Good,” Burl said, “Would have been a lot of work.”


End file.
